CE/CME
Assessments, Education and Prevention in the Dental Home
Welcome to the training on Assessments, Education and Prevention in the Dental Home provided by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA).
Credit Hours: 1.25 CE
EnrollTo enroll in this course, please log in or create a new account if you are not already registered.
Goal
The goal of this module is to equip Texas Health Steps dentists and other dental care professionals to implement nationally recognized dental quality measures such as individualized caries risk assessments and age-appropriate anticipatory guidance to improve oral health for patients ages 3 through 20 years.
Target Audience
Texas Health Steps dentists and other interested dental care professionals.
Specific Learning Objectives
After completing the activities of this module, you will be able to:
- Summarize the role of the dental home in providing preventive oral health care for children, adolescents and young adults.
- Specify how to perform caries risk assessments and provide age-appropriate anticipatory guidance as part of routine dental exams.
- Apply the schedule of preventive and comprehensive oral health services recommended for children and adolescents enrolled in Texas Health Steps.
NOTE: References to parents in this module also imply guardians or caregivers.
Please note this module expires on 8/31/2025.
This module was released on 8/27/2021.
Patients and Families
American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry: Oral Health FAQs for Families.
American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry: Patient Education.
American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry: My Children’s Teeth website.
American Academy of Pediatrics: Oral Health.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: My Water’s Fluoride, an online lookup for consumers interested in whether their local water system is fluoridated.
Materials from the National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center at Georgetown University offer basic oral hygiene information specific to children with special health-care needs.
Partnership for Healthy Mouths, Healthy Lives: Oral health care website.
Texas Health and Human Services Commission. 2-1-1 Texas.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Insurekidsnow.gov website offers an online Find a Dentist tool to help families locate a dentist near their home.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). A recommended short video of a dentist and his staff using the “D-Termined Program of Repetitive Tasking and Familiarization in Dentistry” behavioral management approach to help young children with ASD understand and feel comfortable with dental procedures.
Vanderbilt Kennedy Center: Oral Health for Children with Disabilities fact sheet.
Featured
- American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD). (2020). Policy on the Dental Home. The Reference Manual of Pediatric Dentistry, 2020:43-4.
- American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. (2020). Caries-risk assessment and management for infants, children, and adolescents. The Reference Manual of Pediatric Dentistry. Chicago, Ill.: American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry; 2020:243-7.
- Astasov-Frauenhoffer, M., & Kulik, E. M. (2021). Cariogenic Biofilms and Caries from Birth to Old Age. Monographs in Oral Science, 29:53-64.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP). (2021). Division of Oral Health at a Glance.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Children’s Oral Health.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Community Water Fluoridation: 2018 National Water Fluoridation Statistics.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Healthy People 2030: Oral Health Objectives.
- Machiulskiene, V., Campus, G., Carvalho, J. C. , Dige, I., Ekstrand, K. R., Jablonski-Momeni, A., . . . Nyvad, B. (2020). Terminology of Dental Caries and Dental Caries Management: Consensus Report of a Workshop Organized by ORCA and Cariology Research Group of IADR. Caries Research, 54(1):7-14.
- Fleming, E., & Afful, J. (2018). Prevalence of total and untreated dental caries among youth: United States, 2015–2016. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, Data Brief 307.
- Office of the U.S. Surgeon General. (2003). National Call to Action to Promote Oral Health.
- Texas Health and Human Services Commission. (2021). First Dental Home.
- Texas Health and Human Services Commission. (2019). Texas 2-1-1.
- Texas Health and Human Services Commission. (2021). Vendor Drug Program.
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2021). Healthy People 2030, Oral Conditions.
Medical Definitions
The medical definitions provided in this module were obtained or adapted from the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, the Mayo Clinic, ScienceDirect and the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Continuing Dental Education
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio has approved this course for continuing education from the Office of Continuing Dental Education.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Office of Continuing Dental Education at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is to provide professional growth opportunities and quality continuing education programs as the needs of the profession demand.
Our Philosophy
It is our firm belief that Continuing Dental Education courses should present the newest developments in patient evaluation, treatment, techniques, products, materials, and equipment even though some of them may be controversial. The Dental School does not endorse the content and philosophy of any Continuing Education course but offers various viewpoints to better serve the practicing dental professional.
Certified Community Health Worker
The Texas Department of State Health Services, Promotor(a)/Community Health Worker Training and Certification Program has certified this course for 1.25 contact hour(s) of continuing education for Certified Community Health Workers and Community Health Worker Instructors.
General Disclosure
One of the requirements of continuing education is disclosure of the following information to the learner:
- Notice of requirements for successful completion of continuing education activity. To receive continuing education credit the learner must successfully complete the following activities:
- Create a Texas Health Steps account.
- Complete on-line registration process.
- Thoroughly read the content of the module.
- Complete the on-line examination.
- Complete the evaluation.
- Commercial Support.
The THSTEPS Web-based Continuing Education Series has received no commercial support. - Disclosure of Relevant Financial Relationships.
The THSTEPS Continuing Education Planning Committee and the authors of these modules have no relevant financial relationships to disclose. - Non-Endorsement Statement.
Accredited status does not imply endorsement of any commercial products or services by the Department of State Health Services, Continuing Education Service; Texas Medical Association; or American Nurse Credentialing Center. - Off-Label Use.
Using a disclosure review process, the THSTEPS Continuing Education Planning Committee has examined documents and has concluded that the authors of these modules have not included content that discusses off-label use (use of products for a purpose other than that for which they were approved by the Food and Drug Administration).
The following are policies and definitions of terms related to continuing education disclosure:
The intent of disclosure is to allow Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Continuing Education Service the opportunity to resolve any potential conflicts of interest to assure balance, independence, objectivity and scientific rigor in all of its Continuing Education activities.
All faculty, planners, speakers and authors of Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Continuing Education Service sponsored activities are expected to disclose to the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Continuing Education Service any relevant financial, relationships with any commercial or personal interest that produces health care goods or services concerned with the content of an educational presentation. Faculty, planners, speakers and authors must also disclose where there are any other potentially biasing relationships of a professional or personal nature.
Glossary of Terms
Conflict of Interest: Circumstances create a conflict of interest when an individual has an opportunity to affect Continuing Education content about products or services of a commercial interest with which she/he has a financial relationship or where there are any other potentially biasing relationships of a professional or personal nature.
Commercial Interest: Any entity producing, marketing, re-selling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.
Financial Relationships: Those relationships in which the individual benefits by receiving a salary, royalty, intellectual property rights, consulting fee, honoraria, ownership interest (e.g., stocks, stock options or other ownership interest, excluding diversified mutual funds), or other financial benefit. Financial benefits are usually associated with roles such as employment, management position, independent contractor (including contracted research), consulting, teaching, membership on advisory committees or review panels, board membership, and other activities for which remuneration is received or expected. Relevant financial relationships would include those within the past 12 months of the person involved in the activity and a spouse or partner. Relevant financial relationships of your spouse or partner are those of which you are aware at the time of this disclosure.
Off Label: Using products for a purpose other that that for which it was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Texas Health Steps courses are best viewed using a current browser. If you are using an out-of-date browser or a version of Internet Explorer less than 11, lesson progress and interactive features may not function properly.
Health-Care Providers
- American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. (2020). Caries-risk assessment and management for infants, children, and adolescents. The Reference Manual of Pediatric Dentistry, 2020:243-7.
- American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. (2017). Pediatric Dentist Toolkit for Seeing Patients with Medicaid: Changing Children’s Lives One Smile at a Time.
- American Dental Association. Find-a-Dentist web page.
- Autism Speaks offers a downloadable Dental Professionals’ Tool Kit to help providers reduce anxiety in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who are not comfortable with dental procedures.
- Caries Risk Assessment Tools. Provided by HHSC for children ages 6 through 35 months, 3 through 5 years, and 6 through 20 years.
- Dental Anticipatory Guidance. Texas Health Steps forms in English and Spanish for young children in three age groups that encompass ages birth through 5 years. The forms contain age-appropriate information and education for parents, including a multi-topic overview of environmental influences on oral health. You may download PDFs or order laminated forms from the Texas Health Steps Catalog.
- Dental Anticipatory Guidance forms in English.
- First Dental Home. A Texas Health Steps program that offers a package of dental services aimed at improving the oral health of children ages 6 through 35 months. Dentists must complete online training and submit documentation and an application to be certified to provide First Dental Home services and be reimbursed by Medicaid.
- Health Literacy in Dentistry. An American Dental Association website offering resources to help oral health-care providers improve communication with patients and families.
- Medical Transportation Program. Nonemergency transportation (NEMT) services are available to children and adolescents enrolled in Medicaid, the Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) Services Program and other eligible programs. NEMT may provide free rides to medically necessary medical and dental appointments and other services and benefits that are covered by Medicaid.
- National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) recommends this short video of a dentist and his staff using the “D-Termined Program of Repetitive Tasking and Familiarization in Dentistry” behavioral management approach to help young children with ASD understand and feel comfortable with dental procedures.
- National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center at Georgetown University. Offers basic oral hygiene information specific to children with special health-care needs.
- Texas Health and Human Services Vendor Drug Program. Manages the state Medicaid and CHIP formularies.
- Texas Health Steps Catalog. Offers patient education and other materials for dental checkups.
- Texas Health Steps Therapeutic Dental Benefits Changes Effective September 1, 2020.
- Texas Medicaid Provider Procedures Manual. (2021).
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Find a Dentist in Texas.
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Insurekidsnow.gov website offers an online Find a Dentist tool to help families locate a dentist near their home.
Dental Managed Care Organizations (DMOs) Contact Information
- DentaQuest Provider Services Contact Center
800-896-2374 - MCNA Dental Provider Relations
855-776-6262 - UnitedHealthcare Dental
800-822-5353